...not quite.

Apparently, some dude who calls himself John David California has written an unauthorized sequel to J. D. Salinger's classic novel, and the reclusive author (who hasn't given an interview in nearly 30 years) has gone to court to try to block its publication.

The book is called 60 Years Later: Coming Through The Rye, is dedicated to Salinger, and features "Mr. C", a character that appears to be a Holden Caulfield, now a 76-year-old escapee from a nursing home. It is already available in the U.K., and, should Mr. Salinger's legal efforts fail, will be published in the U.S. in September.

Labels: Classic books, Sequels

Behold, the cover art for the upcoming Diana Wynne Jones release:


Thank you, fine people at HarperCollins Children's Publishing! I see they're selling it as a sequel to Howl's Moving Castle (even though Ms. Jones's website says Howl will only be making a guest appearance), but I don't care: any Diana Wynne Jones book is cause for serious and prolonged celebration. It's due out on June 10th.

Labels: Diana Wynne Jones, Sequels

Several months ago we were offered a pile of Austen-inspired novels from the fine people at Sourcebooks, Inc.. While all of the titles were entertaining, we were particularly impressed by Sybil G. Brinton's Old Friends and New Fancies (which we reviewed on the main site), Jane Dawkins's Letters From Pemberley, and Amanda Grange's Mr. Darcy's Diary.

Jane Dawkins's Letters From Pemberley: The First Year is a continuation of Austen's Pride and Prejudice, and features a series of letters written by Elizabeth to her sister Jane. While the book touches lightly upon the difficulties Elizabeth faces during her swift social elevation as the new Mrs. Darcy, the bulk of novel is spent introducing a series of lightly-disguised characters, situations, and famous lines from Austen's other works.

Dawkins does a credible imitation of Austen's style, and paints a sweet picture of Elizabeth and Darcy's life together, but the best thing about Letters From Pemberley is her decision to borrow liberally from Austen's other books. Austenmania is a dangerous fandom to screw with*, and it's much smarter to appeal to our intellectual vanity ("Hey, she made Mr. Knightley into Mr. Daley! Heh. Man, I am, like, so smart...") than it is to have us foaming at the mouth over ill-advised tampering with our favorite book.

*We bite.

Like Pamela Aidan's Fitzwilliam Darcy, Gentleman series, Amanda Grange's Mr. Darcy's Diary re-tells Pride and Prejudice from Mr. Darcy's point of view. It's always a little difficult for me to accept Mr. Darcy as hardcore diarist (let's face it: he's not exactly Mr. Self-Aware), but Grange does a nice job of illustrating the changes he undergoes during his courtship of Elizabeth.

While Grange makes a handful of unnecessary and unwelcome changes to her source material, including upping the toolishness of the younger Bennet girls*, she wisely doesn't linger over the several-month-long period during which Mr. Darcy is absent from Pride and Prejudice. (Aidan tried to fill this section by sending Darcy off on a bizarre Gothic adventure; Grange just bulldozes right through it, spending about as much time on the months between April and August as she does on Elizabeth's six-day visit to Derbyshire.) Mr. Darcy's Diary is far from perfect, but Grange's restrained writing style and obvious affection and respect for Austen's novel make her book an entertaining accompaniment to the original work.

*Like, what, they weren't embarrassing enough?

Labels: Book Reviews, Jane Austen, Sequels

We've had about a zillion search string hits this month from people looking for information on the sequel to Richelle Mead's Vampire Academy. So here's a compilation of what (little) we know:

1. The sequel will be called Frostbite.

2. It's due out on April 3rd, 2008, and will be followed by at least one more book.

3. It's going to feature a skiing trip, further romantic complications for Rose, and a roving band of evil Strigoi.

We are indebted to Ms. Mead for the plot tidbits (many thanks!). But if you're one of her many new fans, did you know she has another urban fantasy series? It looks like it's intended for adult readers, but if you fit that category, why not while away some of the time between now and next April by reading Succubus Blues?

Labels: Richelle Mead, Sequels

Seeing Redd, the sequel to Frank Beddor's The Looking Glass Wars, is out in bookstores now. While I was impressed by Mr. Beddor's original concept for this series (it doesn't pay to get too picky about Alice in Wonderland re-tellings, because there aren't many of them), I was less enthusiastic about the finished product. As we mentioned in an earlier blog post, The Looking Glass Wars was okay, but it wasn't interesting enough to merit a hardcover re-release, soundtrack, and comic book spin-off.

However, publishers don't offer re-releases/comic books/soundtracks if there isn't money in it, which means that at least a few of our readers must be all a-flutter over the release of Seeing Redd. If you happen to be one of them, here's the official description:

Alyss of Wonderland's rule has only just begun and already those who prefer chaos to peace are threatening to destroy everything worth imagining. Trailed by newly appointed Royal Bodyguard Homburg Molly, Alyss is doing her best to keep pace with the non-stop demands of being Queen while attempting to evade Molly for a few private moments with Dodge. Alyss's life is already a challenging mix of duty, love and imagining when a series of phantom sightings set fire to an urban myth of her imperial viciousness's return and have everyone...Seeing Redd.

Ugh. Sounds like an unholy hybrid of Alice in Wonderland and Star Wars: Attack of the Clones.

Labels: Alice In Wonderland, Frank Beddor, Sequels